Exactly. This is why the big push over banning TikTok never made sense to me. China doesn't need to use TikTok to do bulk collection of user data...cuz they can just BUY data on anyone (whether they're on TikTok or not).
n.pr/4t5Y8GQ
I talk about how succeeding at using or advancing or knowledgeably regulating AI depends upon first closing the digital divide. You gotta crawl before you walk, and it's the same here. Which is why jerking states around on using fed $ on broadband access/affordability/adoption is counterproductive.
Please think of your friendly neighborhood digital rights organizations in these days. Pay attention to what they're doing, so often unnoticed, as Big Tech and govts chip away at your rights online. Send them a few bucks if you can. It's rough out there.
The FBI was able to access Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson's Signal messages because she used Signal on her work laptop. The laptop accepted Touch ID for authentication, meaning the agents were allowed to require her to unlock it. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Data brokers buy up huge amounts of information from cell phones and browsers to sell for targeted advertising. But the government, including ICE, also buys the data.
Putting aside the value or boosterism of programs like this, these aren't useful if you've hit the data cap on your mobile plan and thus can't use the tools they rec, or if you don't understand the privacy risks of telling a chatbot info about your medical conditions. www.npr.org/2026/04/17/n...
Runa Sandvik
Doctora Malka Older
Chhaya Kapadia
Chhaya Kapadia
Rightscon now officially canceled. Really awful for all those who planned to attend, as well as for the digital rights community in general. Thinking of @rightscon.org and @accessnow.org folks who worked so hard for this immense event, and all the people & orgs who booked tickets (including gv 😭)
@newamerica.org's @chhayakapadia.bsky.social emphasizes that the push to accelerate national AI development while kneecapping programs to bring people online limits the future prospects of the communities most in need.
https://bit.ly/4ceKRoQ
The short course provides solid basics for using AI. But it also misidentifies AI products, links out to bad advice and raises ethical concerns about the products it promotes
www.npr.org
This, by the way, is also something FOREIGN governments can do.
Watching a Japanese figure skater compete to Stevie Wonder in the #winterolympics in Italy on global tv, and I guarantee most viewers knew the (awesome) song. The soft power of cultural dominance ain’t nothing.
